


Someone To You

by TheBrightPlaces



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Nichorello, Past Drug Addiction, Rape/Non-con Elements, They work at a mall, gets angsty, mendez is a CREEP, vauseman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:21:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29320809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrightPlaces/pseuds/TheBrightPlaces
Summary: An AU in which a 19 year old Lorna Morello works at a mall and meets a girl with insane curls and a dangerous smile.
Relationships: Lorna Morello & Nicky Nichols, Lorna Morello/Nicky Nichols, Piper Chapman/Alex Vause
Comments: 21
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first shot at writing Nichorello, so hopefully it's okay! Make sure you read the tags if you're worried about any triggering content. Later chapters are going to get dark! I'm sorry if everyone is out of character! Also, I know nothing about New York, so my descriptions of the trains and buildings probably suck.

As many times as Lorna had been in the mall, she shouldn’t be nervous. She basically lived in the mall, arms full of bags with clothes and shoes and makeup. She loved shopping and the big, open atmosphere of the mall. But it was different standing behind the counter, having a customer huff and puff as she fucked up on the cash register yet again.

Her coworker, Maritza, shouldered past her to assist the customer.

Lorna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She was usually such a people person. Easy to get along with and talking so much it verged on annoying to all those in a 5 mile radius. But she didn’t have much experience when it came to negative interactions with the general public. It was just her first day, and it seemed almost every other customer left Forever 21 eyes rolling and mumbling.

But Lorna needed this job. It was getting way too crowded at home and she was itching to move out on her own. Ever since Franny had her 4th kid, Lorna had been moved permanently to the couch, which was almost always occupied by her brother’s high friends, smoking and cackling until dawn. 

“I'm so sorry.” Lorna said as soon as the customer left. Maritza merely rolled her eyes and picked up a fashion magazine, flipping back to her place.

Lorna slapped on a happy face and watched the constant stream of people walking outside of the store. The mall was playing the top 50 hits softly over the speakers as people shopped. Moms pushed strollers and screaming, red faced toddlers dragged behind. Couples walked hand in hand, arms loaded with bags. Bored out of their mind husbands sat impatiently on the wooden benches lining the fountain, sipping super sized soft drinks and checking their watches. Old people walked briskly around, getting in their laps. The same little old lady had been around the entire mall at least 6 times, and Lorna started waving to her every time she passed, a wave that was returned with a smile. At least there was one person in the mall that didn’t hate her.

Her coworker was alright. She was a young Spanish girl named Maritza. Very pretty and around her age, Lorna was excited to find out they’d be working together. She envisioned busy shifts, tackling customer after customer, so in sync they didn’t need to talk as they handled the never ending flow of spray tanned teens and stylish soccer moms. Then, when there was finally a lull, Lorna imagened the two chatting away about all they had in common. Make up, clothes, boys. Flipping through magazines and reading each other the quizzes out loud.

But none of that happened. Maritza was apparently pissed because her best friend used to work with her, but had taken a job down at the south side of the mall at Hot Topic, and, somehow, that was Lorna’s fault. Maritza mainly stuck to ignoring her or talking completely in Spanish, looking at Lorna like she was an idiot. Lorna had no idea if the girl could talk English or not. She just replied to everything Lorna said with rapid Spanish or a glare.

The smell of cookies wafted from the store opposite of Lorna’s. Her stomach grumbled and she glanced at the clock, dying inside a little when she realized she still had 3 hours until lunch. The Forever 21 being placed smack across from The Cookie Counter was going to be Lorna Morello’s downfall. All that separated her and buckets (yes, they served them by the _bucket)_ of deliciously chewy chocolate chip goodness was a water fountain filled with pennies and wishes.

A teen girl approached the counter and Lorna took a deep breath. Surprisingly, it went really well. She commented on the shirt the girl purchased -- she’d had a similar one at home-- and they talked a bit about clothes. She gave the girl her change and wished her well as she joined the flow of ever ending mall goers. 

“That went great!” Lorna squealed, turning to Maritza with a big smile. The other girl gave a sarcastic thumbs up and went back to her magazine.

Okay, either she really was hungry or she was losing her mind. The smell of cookies seemed to be getting _closer_.

Suddenly, a girl appeared in the entrance of their storefront. She had a head of wild curls, a wicked grin, and cookies. It made sense, seeing as she was wearing a polo shirt and goofy visor hat both stitched with the Cookie Counter logo on it.

“Oh, hi.” Lorna said cheerfully as the girl approached the counter.

“Oh, hi, yourself.” The girl replied, setting the cookies on the counter between them. “Ma wanted to give these to ya since it’s your first day and all.”

“Your mom works there too?” Lorna asked, tilting her head curiosity. The girl in front of her had thick mascara and deep brown eyes. Her curls were wild yet somehow perfectly in place. And she had a smirk that seemed to never leave her face.

“Nah, not my actual mom. Mother figure, ya know.” She replied, slipping the cookies out of Maritza’s grabby hands.

“None for you, chica. And you better be showin’ her the ropes right.” The girl said, sliding the cookies closer to Lorna, who took the pack with a smile. They were still nice and warm.

“I don’t think she can speak English.” Lorna leaned in to whisper to the curly headed girl, causing her to burst out laughing.

“Fuck yeah she can talk English. Jesus, really?” The cookie girl said, the last part directed to Maritza.

“You can?!” Lorna exclaimed, whirling around to face her coworker who wore a bored expression.

“You’ve just been talkin’ to me in Spanish all morning!”

“Entertainment.” Maritza said with a shrug, returning to her magazine.

Cookie girl was about doubled over laughing.

“Oh, shit. This is comedy gold!” 

Lorna pouted and took out a cookie, munching on it in silence.

“What’s your name, anyway, kid?” The blonde girl asked once she’d stopped her giggles. She was watching Lorna eat the sweet treat rather closely, so much so that the shorter girl went into an internal panic that something was on her face. She put the cookie down and tried to casually wipe her mouth.

“My name’s Lorna, but that’s an old lady name. It was my nonna’s. You can just call me Morello. It’s my last name.” 

Cookie girl looked her up and down, that smirk never slipping.

“Lorna Morello, huh? What’s that, German?”

Lorna couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips.

“N-No! I’m Italian!” She said through giggles. The curly headed girl shook her head with a big smile.

“ _Duh_ , I know you’re Italian. Your name might as well be Lorna Lasagna.” She teased. 

Maritza suddenly shooed Nicky with her magazine, making room for a woman loaded down with at least 7 pairs of jeans. Lorna quickly checked the woman out, trying not to mess up in front of cookie girl. Lorna didn’t know why, but she wanted to impress this girl. She was just so very _cool._ Which Lorna Morello was the absolute opposite of.

Thankfully the purchase went smoothly and soon the curly headed girl was back in front of the counter.

“Well, Morello, I’m Nicky. You can call me Nichols, if you’re feelin’ fancy.” Nicky said, running a hand through her curls.

Lorna glanced at the Cookie Counter, wondering when Nicky had to be back. Granted it was 9:30 in the morning, not exactly prime cookie time.

“Your name is _Nicky Nichols_?" Lorna asked with an amused smile. Nicky raised an eyebrow and pointed at the other girl.

“Watch it, lasagna.” She said, looking like she was going to say something else, only to be shooed away by Maritza’s magazine yet again. A family approached the counter, toddler blubbering and kid weighed down with sweaters.

“Alright, I should get back.” Nicky said over the crying child. “See ya around, Morello.”

Lorna smiled and waved, glad that at least someone besides the power walking granny seemed to like her.

  
  


Lorna’s shift ended at 3 and the rest of it went pretty well. She got better at the cash register, even with Maritza still only talking to her in Spanish or not at all. Her feet hurt by the end of the day and she was ready to get home and relax. But, knowing her brother, he had all of his sleazy friends over and she’d be stuck hanging out on the stoop of their building or holed up in her room.

Lorna exited the mall and into the November air. It was getting chillier and the girl pulled her jacket tighter around her. The parking lot was absolutely massive and she was trying to remember where, exactly, she’d parked her family’s Ford Fiesta. Her father needed it for his overnight shift, so not finding it really wasn’t an option.

“Hey, Morello!” A rough voice called out. Lorna turned to see Nicky from earlier, leaning against the side of the building, a cigarette between her lips. A tall dark haired girl stood beside her smoking as well. She had glasses and black painted nails.

“Oh, hey, Nichols!” Lorna greeted excitedly, not sure if she should go over or stay where she was.

“Morello? Nichols?” The girl with glasses asked with a chuckle. “What is this, the army?”

“Aye, fuckin’ aye, captain!” Nicky cheered with a salute, a steady stream of smoke leaving her lips and mixing with the chilly fall sir.

“I think that’s more of a pirate response.” Lorna said quickly, awkwardly, but kind of proudly. Lorna was never good at quick, witty banter. The smile that spread across Nicky’s face seemed to warm the air.

“Touché.” Nicky said, throwing her cigarette down and stomping it out. “This is Alex, by the way.” She said, nodding to the taller girl. “She works at Journeys down by Hot Topic. Has a sick foot fetish, but, hey, at least she gets paid for it.”

The girl, Alex, shoved Nicky with her shoulder and shook her head. “One rule about working here,” she said, directed at Lorna, “learn to ignore this one.”

Lorna laughed, her nose and cheeks pink from the wind. 

“Hey, it’s our friend Piper’s birthday today and we were going to hang out at my place tonight to celebrate. You wanna come?” 

Nicky asked it so casually, as if they were already friends. Lorna’s face lit up and she was nodding at a rapid speed before she even knew what she was doing. 

“C’mere.” Nicky said, pulling a phone out of her coat pocket. “Gimme your number so I can text you the address later.” 

Lorna felt like she was walking on cloud nine as she bridged the small gap between them. She’d never been one to be invited anywhere back in school. She was always the one wanting so very hard to be accepted. It always came off as desperate and awkward, leaving her super cool high school party attendance tally in the negatives.

Lorna read off her number and watched Nicky type it in with long, gentle looking fingers. The girl smelled like smoke and cookies. 

“You’re a lightweight, ain’t ya?” Nicky asked with a crooked smile. Lorna tried not to let her face deceive her. She was, indeed, quite the light weight. Underage drinking wasn’t exactly a foreign concept in the Morello household. Ever since her mom died and her dad worked crazy hours, it was pretty much free reign. Lorna had only been drunk a handful of times and always in the company of her siblings. She was always the first one passing out on the couch.

“You and Piper will get along beautifully.” Alex said with a smirk. “One drink and she’s sobbing about the fickle nature of human morality or passed out in the bathtub.”

Lorna laughed and shook her head.

“No, I’m not that bad. At least, I don’t think so.”

“Good,” Nicky said, the corner of her mouth jerking into a smirk. “The last thing we need is pukey 2.0”

“Yeah, she also pukes.” Alex added. “Every. Single. Time.”

“Don’t ya worry, kid.” Nicky said, looking Lorna up and down. “Hang around me long enough and you’ll get mighty accustomed.”

Lorna couldn’t help the smile that broke out over her face. The very statement implied this wasn’t just a one time thing. That Nicky, Alex, and this Piper girl could _actually_ be her friends. She sure hoped so.

  
  


Lorna stood in the cramped room she shared with her sister, once again dumping the contents of her closet onto her bed. Some of the clothes spilled onto the floor, adding to the mess that was the Morello house. The room was flooded with toys and clutter, and her nephew lay on her sister’s bed, napping.

Lorna finally settled on some black skinny jeans and nice, warm black and white striped sweater. Her hair was lightly curled and she applied her usual bright red lipstick, giving the whole look a pop. She had no idea what time the party was, Nicky had just said tonight, which could be anywhere from like 5 to 11 pm. And she didn’t have Nicky’s number, so there was no way she could text and find out. 

As expected, Lorna’s brother had a horde of his unemployed, sleazy friends over. The group completely dominated the living room, slung over couches smoking weed and yelling at the tv, which was constantly at max volume. Her sister, Franny, was in the bathroom, bathing 3 out of 4 kids, bubbles and screaming laughter everywhere. 

The Morello house was always loud and cramped and had too much happening. You couldn’t turn around without stepping on a toddler or a week old pizza box. So Lorna found herself, as she so often did, sitting on her stoop. 

She couldn’t help but be nervous. She checked her phone every few minutes and, finally, a message from an unknown number popped up a little after 8 pm.

[UNKNOWN] : hey this is nicky. 283 highland passage is the street name. Big white building obnoxious as fuck. room 65. cmon over got some cookies w ur name on them 

[Lorna] : Alrighty, on my way! Don’t you eat my cookie!

[Nicky] : im gonna let that one slide 

Lorna hopped on the train and reread the address over and over. It was definitely in a part of the city Lorna had never been. It was for the rich and high class, filled with expensive French restaurants and lawyers offices and huge, huge apartment buildings that touched the clouds. Lorna hadn’t pegged Nicky for the rich type. Not at all. Why was she making cookies for minimum wage if she lived in a place like that?

She found the address quickly enough and soon found herself standing outside of a towering white complex. There was even a fountain outside of it, for Christ’s sake. Lorna tugged on her cheap, got-it-on-sale sweater and felt completely out of her element. 

She was contemplating turning and booking it home, texting Nicky with some last minute babysitting or stomach bug excuse, when her phone buzzed.

[Nicky] : u better come on, pukey and co r killing me. 

Lorna smiled at her phone, the glow of it lighting up her face. She took a breath. She could do this. 

Walking tall and like she knew exactly what she was doing, she entered the fancy building and strolled right past the security guy, receiving a nod. After a short elevator ride, Lorna stood outside door 65 trying to build up the courage to knock. Nicky was just so _cool_. Alex, too, from what she saw. And here she was, a 5’0 girl who binged watched sappy romance movies in her free time. 

But Nicky had invited her, she reminded herself. That meant she _wanted_ her to come. 

Lorna finally knocked and was greeted by Alex.

“Oh, hey, Lorna, is it?” The tall girl asked, moving out of the way and gesturing inside. “C’mon in, Nicky’s just in the bathroom.”

Lorna strolled in with a smile, quickly feeling more at ease once she laid eyes on the state of the apartment 

Sure it had all white, modern looking furniture. High end kitchen products and a huge flat screen. But it was definitely lived in. Clothes were strewn about, an ashtray lay overflowing on the coffee table beside a bucket of cookies from the Cookie Counter. Bottles and cans were everywhere and it made Lorna feel a lot less intimidated. A blonde girl was sitting on the floor with a game controller in her lap. 

“This is Piper, the birthday girl herself.” Alex announced as Lorna sat awkwardly on the couch. 

“Happy birthday!” She said with a genuine smile, reaching out and helping herself to a cookie. 

“Hey, thanks!” Piper exclaimed way too loudly. She was obviously already a tab tipsy. She was super focused on the flat screen, tongue sticking out as she tried to control her character’s out of control driving.

“Here, drink up.” Alex said, handing Lorna a red solo cup. She sighed contentedly and flopped down on the couch beside Lorna, drinking her own drink and absently playing with Piper’s hair.

Lorna took a sip and tried not to grimace. She wasn’t the best at identifying different alcohols, but whatever this was, it was strong.

“That bitch! Look at her! What the hell!” Piper yelled, pointing at the screen as Princess Peach sped past her. The girl sounded on the verge of tears, causing Lorna to laugh. 

“Easy, Pipes. Let’s not spiral out too early, yes?” Alex said through chuckles, flashing a smile at Lorna. 

“Hell yeah.” A rough voice said from behind them. “Now the real party can start!” 

Lorna twisted around to see Nicky greeting her with a smile. The curly headed girl was dressed in dark skinny jeans and a black tank top, finished off with an unbuttoned red and black checkered flannel. 

Nicky jumped onto the couch from behind, situating herself between Lorna and Alex. 

“Alright, kid, you’re here to settle this once and for all.” Nicky said, turning to face Lorna. “Who’s your go to Mario Kart character? The one you pick every single time."

Lorna didn’t even have to think about that one. She’d spent many a summer afternoon losing miserably to her brother on Mario Kart.

“Toadette, obviously. She’s the cutest ever!” 

Nicky groaned and sunk into the couch and Alex burst out laughing. 

“You’re worse than Piper! Piper literally picks Bowser every time ‘cause she somehow thinks he’s faster just ‘cause of his size. When will you people learn that it’s about strategy?” Nicky complained, shaking her head as Piper’s on screen Bowser slid easily into last place.

“It’s about cuteness, Nichols.” Lorna replied, her cup already half empty. She could feel it in her vines. Warm and slow. “You gotta look at ‘em the whole time, might as well be cute!”

“What kinda logic is that?” Nicky countered, sitting up and rummaging around under the coffee table. She produced three more remotes, all a tangled mess.

Alex and Lorna set about helping untangle the mess of wires, all while Piper chugged more alcohol and ranted about Princess Peach being a bitch.

“It’s the hair, I think. Look at her hair, Alex. And Nicky. Lorna, look too. Look at her hair. It’s bitch hair.” Piper rambled, pointing at the screen where Princess Peach stood on the first place podium.

“Bitch hair?” Alex chuckled, shaking her head with an amused grin. “Care to elaborate?”

“Hey, I’d eat that pussy in a heartbeat.” Nicky commented, causing Lorna to choke on her drink. 

“No, Nicky! She’s a bitch! We just talked about this!” Piper shrieked. Then she literally started crying and turned to Alex. “Tell her not to fuck Princess Peach!”

Alex sighed heavily and stroked the blonde’s hair, who was currently sobbing into her drink. “For Piper’s sanity, I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from fucking Princess peach, deal?”

Nicky’s mouth twitched into a smirk and she flicked a glance at Lorna. “Deal. Daisy‘s where it’s at, anyway. I have a thing for brunettes.”

Lorna was thankful that her face was hidden by her cup when Nicky said that, because she probably looked like a deer in the headlights. Nicky was gay? Not that Lorna had a problem with gay people, not at all. Her family definitely did. Her Catholic upbringing had drilled into her head that gay people had a first class ticket to hell. But she’d never bought such a message. Lorna thought love was love, no matter what. She was a lover of romance, after all. And _Love, Simon_ was just as romantic as _The Notebook_.

Lorna wasn’t gay, though. She definitely liked boys.

_Nicky liked brunettes? And what was that look?_

Piper managed to stop crying and blabbered onto Alex about one of their other friends Lorna guessed, someone named Polly.

As the two went back and forth, Lorna drained her cup and looked over at Nicky. The girl was sitting cross cross on the couch, blowing stray curls out of her face and finally freeing a remote.

“You not drinkin’, Nichols?” Lorna asked, honestly surprised. Nicky looked up at her with a smirk.

“Nah, can’t, really. I was into some real hard shit a few years back, so I try to stay away from everything. It’s a slippery slope, ya know. So I gotta get drunk on life instead of alcoholic beverages. Which sucks ass, but better safe than sorry.”

Lorna sat her cup tentatively on the coffee table, instantly feeling bad for drinking in from Nicky. What had Nicky meant by ‘hard shit’? Drugs? Nicky didn’t look like a junkie, but Lorna couldn’t think of anything else that would be considered hard and make you stay away from alcohol.

“Nah, none of that, kid.” Nicky said with a smirk, nodding to Lorna’s disregarded cup. “You can drink as much as ya want. Doesn’t bother me any.” The other girl got up and fetched another cup, giving it to Lorna.

“I’m not a kid, ya know.” Lorna said with a grin, feeling giggly and warm. She was smiling a lot. “I’m _of age_."

“Is that so?” Nicky asked with an amused grin, finally getting all of the remotes untangled. “How old are ya?”

“19 and a half.” Lorna replied with a proud smile, sipping more of the strong liquid.

“Jesus, yeah, you’re a kid. I’m 22, so that makes me the elder.”

“You’re not an _elder_!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re the elder, huh, _Lorna_?” Nicky replied with a smirk as the younger girl pouted and shoved her shoulder.

“For your information, I’m the elder.” Alex announced, standing up and stretching. “24 over here.”

“22!” Piper giggled, followed by Alex correcting her. “23, Pipes. Birthday, remember?”

Nicky got up and plugged in the other remotes, handing them out to the others. 

Nicky groaned dramatically as Lorna picked Toadette and Piper, Bowser. The curly headed girl made loud moaning noises as Alex debated choosing Princess Daisy, causing everyone to die laughing. At least Alex seemed to be reading each of the character’s stats. She finally chose Mario.

“What, why that little bastard?” Nicky asked, choosing Waluigi.

Alex pushed her glasses up on her head, looking like she was going to launch into an extended explanation involving character traits and kart speeds, but, instead, simply said, “He’s the main character, of course.”

Nicky slid off the couch and joined Piper on the floor at that. “You people drive me insane.” She said, but her voice was all smiles. 

The night passed by all too fast. They played Mario Kart for a good while, Lorna and Piper tying in last place more often than not. Drinks flowed heavily and Lorna was good and drunk fairly quickly. Drunk Lorna was very giggly and didn’t think before she spoke, just saying whatever silly thing that popped into her head. Piper went off the deep end long ago, dissolving into tears after deciding she was a morally corrupt person because she ran Alex’s character off the road.

Alex and Piper were in the bathroom, Piper living up to her nickname and emptying her stomach into the toilet and Alex trying to explain that she wasn’t an evil person because she bumped her kart in a video game. Lorna was helping Nicky clean up the various cups and cookie remnants and trying not to fall over. 

“You two better not be fuckin’ in there!” Nicky yelled, only to be answered by the sounds of Piper puking once again. 

“Shit, what time do the trains close?” Lorna asked, as if she wasn’t a native New Yorker.

“The trains don’t close, ya dork.” Nicky replied, shooting an amused grin at the drunk girl. “But no way you’re getting on them.”

Lorna stuffed another cookie into her mouth, looking quizzically over at the other girl.

“Huh? That’s how I got here.” 

Nicky dumped the remainder of Piper’s cup into the sink and flopped down on the couch with a yawn.

“Oh yeah, sending a girl who can barely stand onto a public train at 2 am will do wonders for my conscience.” Nicky said, turning to look at Lorna, so was sitting on the floor, greatly regretting the last 6 cookies she shoveled into her mouth.

“What time do you work tomorrow?” Nicky asked.

“Uh, 3 to 11.” Lorna answered after her brain decided to work.

“Oh, good, so you’ll have plenty of time to sleep it off and shit. You want to crash here or want me to drive ya home? Piper lives 3 floors up, so they’re all good. But, fair warning, I dive like shit. So if Jesus has to swoop in and take the wheel, we’re just gonna let him, alright?” Nicky said with a laugh. 

Lorna tried to think, but thinking didn’t exactly go hand in hand with 6+ cups of alcohol and barely weighing over 100 pounds. Her eyes were heavy and she just wanted to sleep. Nicky’s kitchen floor was looking like a 5 star hotel room at the moment. 

“Can I just sleep here?” Lorna asked, patting the cold tiles.

“Here? Yes. The floor? No ma’am.” Nicky responded, getting to her feet. 

“Alright, this one’s officially out for the count.” Announced Alex, walking an extremely wobbly Piper towards the door.

“You alright, Morello?” Alex asked as Piper groped for the doorknob while standing a good 5 feet away. 

Lorna wasn’t doing too hot. Her head was spinning and she was tired, but her mind started to think things in its loose, drunk way. She hadn’t told Franny where she was going, and even though her older sister was constantly busy due to her kids, Lorna being gone overnight would surely come to her attention. She’d be worried sick.

“Actually, I think I gotta get home.” Lorna said, raising to shaky legs. “My, my sister, she doesn’t know where I am a’ all.” 

“Alright.” Nicky said, swiping a pair of keys off the counter. “Happy birthday, blondie.” She said with a smile, ruffling Piper’s hair as she passed. Alex and Piper left and Lorna took 10 minutes trying to put on her coat before she agreed to let Nicky help her. 

Nicky’s car was the coolest thing Lorna’d ever seen. It was black and slick and the seats were smooth leather. There was a big screen on the console and Green Day playing softly in the background. 

It wasn’t until Nicky pulled up the gps on the big screen and asked for her address that Lorna realized Nicky would see her house. Her cramped house full of kids in a neighborhood where drunk people roamed and fights went down. 

“Uhhhh,” Lorna said, closing her eyes tight and trying to think. “Can I just go on my own?” 

Nicky gave her a weird look.

“And have some dirty pervert squeeze your tits on the train? Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Lorna didn’t have the energy to argue and she barely had a filter when she was drunk, so she was rambling before she even knew it.

“Look, I’m shit poor and my house is trash and, look at your fuckin’ place, with a fountain. This sweater, Nichols, was on sale for like 10 dollars. I don’t got no money and I live with my brother and sister and her kids and I really think I’m gonna fuckin’ cry if you have to see my house so could you maybe drop me off a little down the road?”

Nicky didn’t say anything for a bit and then chuckled. Lorna looked over at her, that noise being the last thing she expected. 

“Kid, I don’t give a shit about money. My parents are loaded, yeah, and they pay for the apartment and the car and shit. But I don’t care. All the crap they pay for is just in exchange for me keepin’ clean. So, point being, I don’t give a flying fuck about money. Alex lives in a trailer, although she spends most days at Piper’s, but who the fuck cares? Money don’t mean shit. Now give me the address.” 

Lorna didn’t know what kind of response she expected, but it definitely wasn’t that. A smile spread across her face and she gave Nicky her address.

“And that’s a hot sweater.” Nicky added as Lorna laid her head against the cool window, fighting back another round of giggles. 

The drive was quiet and Lorna was drifting off to sleep when they suddenly stopped. She jerked awake and noticed they were there already. Sleepy, she looked over at Nicky. The dome light was washing a warm glow over her face and lighting up her dirty blonde curls like a halo.

“Did I do good, Nichols?”

“Huh?”

“I tried not to be annoying. I don’t have any friends.”

“You do now, kid.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next day at work, Lorna didn’t see Nicky any, but she did see Piper. Lorna had stopped into Bath and Body works on her lunch break out of boredom. She had planned on hanging out in the little cafeteria in front of the Cookie Counter, but with no Nicky it just seemed weird. Browsing the new Christmas candles (even though it was only November, geez) she heard someone say, “Oh, hey, Lorna!”

She turned around to see Piper, decked out in a Christmas themed Bath and Body Works apron. Lorna had no idea Piper even worked at the mall.

“Hey!” Lorna said with a big smile. “How ya feelin’?”

Piper stocked coffee scented soap with a groan.

“Like shit, honestly. My head’s still killing me.”

Lorna picked up a candy cane scented candle and gave it a sniff. It was sickly sweet.

“Have you talked to Alex today?” Piper asked in a low voice. Lorna raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

“No, why?” 

Piper looked around the store and then took Lorna’s sleeve, dragging her to the shampoo corner. They were instantly bathed in the smell of roses and cherry blossoms.

“I know we just met last night, but you seem like you can keep a secret. Plus my friend Polly is being a total bitch and I just need to tell someone before I explode.” Piper said in a conspiratorial whisper. 

“Yeah, yeah, I totally can. What’s up?” Lorna asked. She liked Piper. Though she’d only seen her drunk out of her mind, she seemed like a nice girl. 

Piper took a breath and checked the premises again, as if Alex was just going to materialize. 

“Okay, so I was really drunk last night. And Alex helped me back to my apartment and all that, and of course I offered her to stay over because she was drunk and she’s always over anyway. And, well, uh, we were in my living room and it was dark and she was trying to find the light switch and she made some dumb joke and did that laugh. And I just…”

Piper paused and closed her eyes, lips pressed in a straight line.

“I _kissed_ her. I don’t know why. I kissed her straight on the lips and, it’s insane, but she kissed me back.”

Lorna broke out into a smile. “Well that’s good, ain’t it? I honestly already assumed you two was together.”

Piper didn’t look convinced.

“She pulled away and said I was drunk out of my mind and that I didn’t know what I was doing. Then she helped me to bed and all that, but was all quiet and sad.”

“Did you know what you were doin’?” Lorna asked.

Piper was quiet for a while, messing with the various pins and do dads on her apron. Eventually she said, “Yeah, yeah, I did. I wanted to kiss her. I’ve wanted to for a while now.”

Lorna reached out and put a hand on Piper’s shoulder. 

“Well, just, ya know, explain it to her. Tell her, yeah ya know you were drunk a’ all, but it just helped ya have the courage to actually do it. I know it’s easier said than done, but she needs to know that ya _wanted_ to do it.” 

Piper sighed and laid her head against the wall of shampoo.

“It’d be easier to explain if she’d talk to me. I stopped by on my break and it was so awkward, oh my _God_ was it awkward. I fucked it all up.” Piper groaned.

Lorna honestly didn’t have any relationship experience beyond making out with boys in their grimy basements and letting them put their hands up her shirt in high school. But she noticed how Alex had been with Piper last night. She was constantly finding excuses to touch Piper, and it was obvious. She’d play with her hair or brush against her arm or guide her hands on her controller. Granted, Lorna had only known them for a day, give or take, but she watched chick flicks religiously and considered herself pretty insightful when it came to romance.

“Hey now, you didn’t fuck it up! C’mon, chin up, ‘kay?” Lorna said, lifting the blonde’s head. “It’ll probably be awkward for a while, but ya just gotta ride it out. Just make sure you let her know that you wanted to kiss her. And that it wasn’t a mistake or nothin’. What she does with that is up to her.”

Piper offered up a sad smile. “You’re pretty good at this.”

Lorna shrugged with a smile. “I read a lotta magazines. Oh, and I’ve watched _10 Things I Hate About You_ about a gazillion times.”

  
  


Lorna double checked and triple checked the list Maritza had left her (in English, thank God.) The mall had closed 20 minutes ago and Lorna had finally finished everything she had to do to close down the store. Walking out of Forever 21, she got a chill. The huge mall was completely deserted and dark aside from the emergency lights lining the ceiling, casting an eerie yellow glow. She knew other people had to be here, other workers closing down their shops, but they probably hadn’t taken 20 minutes like she did. They were probably long gone and she was all alone in this huge, empty building that looked like some abandoned thing out of an apocalypse movie.

She focused on just making it to the front doors. Her steps bounced loudly off the walls and all the shops had their metal grates pulled down. She could see the parking lot and even make out her car. It was far away, square in the middle of the deserted lot. 

Lorna almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of another person standing by the front doors. But it was one of the security guards she’d seen walking around throughout the day. He was hard to miss. The guard was extremely tall and had a weird mustache like something straight out of the 80’s. But he was a relief to see at the moment, creepy stache and all.

“Hey, little lady.” He said, turning at the sound of her steps. “Pretty creepy in here after dark, huh?”

“Sure is!” Lorna agreed, pulling her jacket closer. She glanced at her car, cursing herself for not parking closer to a street lamp. Her car was in the dark. Childish as it may be, Lorna was a tad scared of the dark. Flashes of serial killers hiding in her backseat or patiently waiting for her outside played in her mind, sending up another chill.

“Care if I walk you to your car? It’s no problem. I have to do a perimeter check anyway.” The guard said. His badge said Mendez. 

Lorna let out a breath and smiled. “That’d be great!”

With such a giant following beside her (with a gun, no less) the parking lot didn’t seem so bad. She made it to her car safe and sound, thanking Mendez greatly. 

“Not a problem. Have a good night.” He replied, nodding and heading back to the mall. 

  
  
  


Once she was home and changed into pjs, Lorna camped out in the living room. It was quiet for a change at the house. Her brother was passed out drunk in the hallway and all the kids and her sister were asleep, too. 

[Nicky] : how was ur first night shift? see any ghosties?

Lorna couldn’t help but smile at her screen. Nicky had remembered that she worked the night. 

[Lorna] : No ghosts geez but I was a total baby. The guard guy had to walk me to my car. It was so creepy at night 

[Nicky] : guard guy? can I call you? txting sucks 

[Lorna] : Lol sure 

And that’s how she ended up on the phone with Nicky until way after 2am. Apparently the guard who had helped her to her guard was quite well known among the employees. Especially for being a creep, which earned him the nickname Pornsatche. 

“He didn’t try anything, did he? Swear that guy always has his dick in his hand.” Nicky had asked her.

“No, he didn’t do nothin’. Is he really a creep?”

“The very definition of the word, kid. There was a whole thing last year with a girl named Trica who worked at Hot Topic. He was constantly goin’ up to her, grabbin’ her tits and cornering her in hallways. Poor girl was scared outta her mind. Finally quit after he apparently pulled his dick out and threatened to shove it down her throat.”

“Jesus, really? That’s fuckin’ sick! Gives me the creeps just thinkin’ ‘bout how we was all alone tonight.”

“When’s your next night shift?”

“Uh, not sure. But definitely not for a few days.”

"Just lemme know. I’ll stop by if ya want. No one needs to be alone with that fuckwad.”

They talked about everything and nothing. Movies, music, work, Lorna talked Nicky’s ear off after learning the curly headed girl had never seen _West Side Story_.

They talked about their families, a topic Nicky did not like at all. Nicky’s mother apparently lived in Brazil with some guy, and her father lived in the city with an entire new family, complete with two new step siblings for Nicky.

Lorna was completely blown away when she checked the time and saw that nearly 3 hours had passed. They said their goodbyes and Nicky told Lorna to meet her for lunch tomorrow, a request that she accepted with a smile. 

Lorna plopped down in one of the plastic cafeteria chairs across from Nicky, who looked up with a grin. 

“Curious as to why I called this meeting, Morello?” She asked. 

Lorna eyed the platter of tacos between them. “I only came ‘cause of the promise of tacos.”

Nicky chuckled and slid the plate towards her.

“Understandable, but the real reason is love.”

“Love?” Lorna echoed, munching on a taco with no shame. 

“Yes, love. More specifically, we’re here to discuss Operation Vauseman.”

Lorna took another huge bite, earning an amused grin from Nicky.

“Yeah, I got no clue what you’re talkin’ about. What’s Vauseman?”

“Piper and Alex! Piper _Chapman_. Alex _Vause_. Mush if together and you get Vauseman. Aka the two dorks who are so clearly in love but won’t admit it.” Nicky explained, sipping on her drink. 

Lorna paused, eyes flicking around as to not be overheard. “So you know?” She whispered.

“Uh, _duh_. I have eyes. Plus, Alex told me what happened the other night. With the whole lip locking shabang.”

“Piper told me about it, too. She’s worried that she fucked everything up.” Lorna said, grabbing another taco. She was worried that she was maybe still technically spilling Piper’s secret, but it looked like Nicky knew everything anyway.

“Yeah, and Alex thinks Piper just did it because she was hammered.” Nicky said, grabbing a taco herself before Lorna demolished them all. “So we’re at a good ol’ fashioned miscommunication crossroads.”

“Piper _wanted_ to kiss her.” Lorna said with a smile. “She really likes her.”

“Again, duh.” Nicky said, rolling her eyes. “Those two have been doing the whole ‘secretly in love with each other from afar’ thing for months now. But now Pipes set the ball in motion. We gotta help nudge it along.” 

Lorna fell quiet as she wondered how exactly they could nudge it along. She felt kind of awkward. She’d only known these people for a short time, so it felt weird to be so deep into their personal matters. But, then again, it made Lorna really happy because it meant they trusted her. It meant they were friends.

The food court was bustling with people and filled with the sound of chatter. Lorna looked over to the Cookie Counter, one of the many restaurants that lined the cafeteria, and spotted Red. The woman had hair that matched her name and was moving quickly behind the counter, carrying a tray of steaming cookies. Nicky had talked about Red during their late night phone call. Apparently she’d been more than a mother to Nicky that her birth one ever had. She’d been there to help Nicky when she was going through drug withdrawals and just in a very shitty place in general. She’d literally saved her life.

“Okay, we need to get them alone together so they’re forced to talk it out.” Nicky thought out loud, scanning the crowd. “Back in the day, before the whole staying clean thing, we all used to hang out at the carousel after work. The dumb fuck guard Luscheck gave us copies of the key in exchange for a joint. So we’d wait until the mall was good and closed, then we’d come on in and get high as fuck and ride the carousel. It’ll be the perfect way to get them alone.”

“But what about you?” Lorna asked immediately. “It’ll be way too tempting. Plus, where would we even get weed from?”

“Oh, Alex deals.” Nicky said casually, like it was no big deal.

Lorna’s eyes went wide. “Alex is a drug dealer?!” She asked in a hushed whisper. 

“Damn good one, too. But we don’t have to get high. Just hanging out at the carousel will be fun enough.” Nicky said, getting back to the plan. “So, you tell Piper. I’ll tell Alex. It’ll be like in the movies where two people meet up but they aren’t expecting each other.”

Lorna crunched on another taco as she thought about it. It did seem like a good plan, better than anything else she could think of. She was still nervous about meddling in Piper and Alex’s relationship. The last thing she wanted to do was make things worse.

“Whatcha pouting about, kid?” Nicky asked with a grin. Lorna was about to respond when she saw Mendez, the supposed creeper, leaning against the wall but the Cookie Counter, staring directly at her.

“Oh, shit.” She muttered, immediately looking down. “Look over there, by the wall. But don’t make it obvious you’re lookin’!”

Nicky stealthily cut a glance and groaned.

“Fuckin’ Pornstache.” She said, not even trying to hide the glare she shot the man’s way. 

“I shoulda never let him walk me to the car.” Lorna groaned, putting her head on the table. 

“Well, shit, you didn’t know! How dare you trust a man in uniform!” Nicky said, reaching over the table and putting a hand on Lorna’s arm.

“Serious, kid. Look at me.”

Lorna did as she was told, raising her head from the table.

“If he does anything, and I mean _anything,_ you have to tell me, okay? Don’t you dare keep that shit to yourself. Tell me and we’ll figure something out.” 

Nicky’s husky voice was serious and her hand was still on Lorna’s arm. All Lorna could do was nod. 

They decided to go ahead with the carousel plan on Saturday. The rest of the week went by pretty smoothly. On Friday Lorna was pretty sure she met the love of her life. 

Fridays were apparently delivery days. Days where the trucks came and dropped off box after box of new shit to sell. So she spent most of the day in the back room, buried in boxes of jeans and thick Christmas sweaters. But the storeroom is not where she met the love of her life. She’d met him a few moments before.

“Shit, go get them to sign this.” Maritza said, shoving a clipboard at Lorna. ”Go out the back. Hurry before they fucking drive off!”

So that’s why Lorna ended up running outside in the rain like a crazy person, running smack into the guy she was looking for, who was also looking for the clipboard. 

“Oh, uh, can you sign this?” Lorna asked, dumbstruck by the guy’s absolute beauty. They were both standing under a little awning, but he’d obviously been in the rain going in and out of the truck. He was young, in his 20s. His blonde hair was damp and messy, like he’d just stepped out of the shower. His eyes were a dazzling blue, like summer skies. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, handing her back the clipboard. He shot her a smile that cracked her chest right open.

“Uh, L-Lorna.” She said, cringing as she said it. Fucking old lady name.

“Well, Lorna.” He said, turning to go. “There’s something special for you there on the bottom of that page.”

He left and Lorna looked at the page, where he’d scribbled his number along with his name, Christopher. 

And that’s how Lorna ended up in the storeroom, fangirling so hard she knocked over a box of Christmas tree bracelets. She instantly entered the boy’s name in her phone and spent the rest of the day debating when it would be too soon to text him. She managed to last until just after dinner. Perched on the stoop, Mikey’s friends partying in the living room, she sent out a text.

[Lorna] : Hey! This is Lorna from the mall :)

[Christopher] : Hi 

[Lorna] : It was great to meet you! I hope we can hang out sometime!

[Christopher] : Ya, cool

[Lorna] : How’s your night going? :)

His responses were hours apart and barely a word long, but Lorna convinced herself it was the beginning of something beautiful. 

  
  
  


“Hey, kiddo. What’s up?”

“Hey, Nicky. Would it be okay if I catch a ride with you to the carousel tonight? My dad got called into work a’ all.”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing. I’ll be there at 8, ‘kay?”

“Okay! Thanks! I’ll make it up to y-“

“Nooope. Don’t even think ‘bout it.”

“.....”

“......”

“Are you sure I should come?”

“Uh, yeah. Duh! Why would you think otherwise?”

“It’s just...nevermind. I’ll see ya at 8. Come on in if I’m not out in time. Just know it’s a shit show in here.”

“No worse than my place. You do remember the week old donut we found under my couch, correct?”

“It was sprouting, Nicky!”

“Donuts don’t sprout! It was simply evolving!”

  
  
  


Lorna was hanging around the kitchen waiting for Nicky to pull up. It was 10 minutes to 8 and Lorna was pumped and ready to go. The thrill of doing something crazy and risky was making her bounce around on the balls of her feet. She kept imagining everything that could go wrong. Some random cop driving by and noticing the cars. Randomly deciding to check it out. What if a guard was there? That Pornstache one? 

But Nicky would be there. Piper and Alex, too. Her friends. She smiled at the very thought. The thought of running through a ginormous, empty, creepy ass mall didn’t seem too bad if they were by her side.

Finally, Nicky’s car pulled up and Lorna darted from her lookout spot, only to be blocked on the way out. One of her brother’s friends, Gino, was standing in the kitchen archway, bottle in hand.

“Hey there, Little Lorna Morello.” He said, his eyes roaming up and down her body. “It’s funny, I knew you when you was only up to here.” He motioned to his stomach.

Lorna didn’t remember him. Her brother always had random friends over, they all seemed to blend into one. They were all sleazy and pot heads.

“Uh, hey. I guess. I was just goin’ out so,'' Lorna said with a chuckle, trying to squeeze past the man. He instead put a hand out, stopping her.

“You sure ain’t a kid no more, are ya?” Gino said, a smile growing. “Bet you can do all sorts of things with those red lips, huh? You got tits, too.”

“She’s also got a friend that’s 2 seconds away from kicking your balls so hard they invert back into your body.” A rough voice called out from the front door. Lorna peeked under Gino’s arm to see Nicky there, cigarette hanging out of her mouth and looking like she was about to make her threat become a reality.

Gino snorted and stepped away, hands in the air as if surrendering.

“Hey, you’re invited, too, Curly Sue. The more, the merrier.” 

Lorna disregarded Gino with a roll of her eyes and practically skipped over to Nicky, ready to head out. 

Nicky didn’t seem as happy. She was staring daggers into Gino, looking like she was about to say something more.

“C’mon, Nichols! Operation Vauseman, ‘member?” Lorna said with a smile, tugging on Nicky’s jacket sleeve. Nicky finally gave in and led the way to her car, flicking the cigarette on the ground and stomping on it.

“Who the fuck was that asshole?” Nicky asked as they both got in her car. Lorna buckled up and causally checked her phone (no text from Christopher), humming slightly.

“Oh, one of my brother’s friends. Why?”

“ _Why_? Because he was being a pervert, that’s why.”

Lorna shrugged. “I just ignore ‘em. They don’t do nothin’ too bad.”

Nicky sighed and started the car. They were soon speeding off to the mall. Lorna didn’t want this evening to be ruined by Gino, so she went into overdrive trying to ramble about anything she could think of to cheer Nicky up. Nicky cracked a smile after only a few minutes of the useless chatter, causing Lorna to declare it a victory. 

“Is that Piper’s car?” Lorna asked as they pulled into the parking lot. It was completely empty aside from a single white car parked near the front.

“Yep. Alex lives like 5 minutes away, so she usually walks. So let’s grab Piper and try to beat Alex.” 

“But won’t she recognize Piper’s car and turn right back around?” Lorna asked as they got out of the car and entered the cold night air. Nicky grimaced.

“Shit. Definitely didn’t think about that.” The older girl said with a groan. “We can get Piper to move it to the back or some shit.”

The two started the long trek across the parking lot. Lorna still found herself a tad (a lot) creeped out. The street lights were few and far between and they offered little help in cutting through the darkness.

Without even thinking, Lorna reached out and grabbed hold of Nicky’s sleeve. 

“Everything okay?” Nicky asked, looking back at her. Lorna smiled and let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, just, uh, kinda creepy.” She said, embarrassed at how much of a baby she was being.

But Nicky just smiled. She unclenched Lorna’s hand on her sleeve and, instead, intertwined it with her own. Lorna stared down at their hands as they walked. Nicky’s hand was surprisingly soft and so warm. Lorna walked the rest of the way with a smile, a smile that only faltered when Nicky let go of her hand to get the keys from her back pocket and unlock the huge glass doors.

They found Piper sitting near the front of the mall on a bench, face buried in her phone. She looked up at the sound of the two approaching.

“Can you go move your car around back, blondie?” Nicky asked casually, hands in pockets.

“Why?” Piper asked, getting to her feet. She pointed out the window. “Your car’s not in the back.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a white car that can be seen from fuckin’ Mars. Plus, I parked strategically in the shadows.”

Piper groaned but obliged, making her way to the doors.

“Meet us at the carousel!” Nicky yelled over her shoulder. 

Lorna had never actually been to the carousel. She’d seen it from afar, of course. But it was way towards the back of the mall, a place where she didn’t really hang around. 

It was a massive ride. Painted in bright golds and whites, it sat under a glass dome, which had a beautiful view of the night sky. 

“Woah.” Was all Lorna could say. 

“Right?” Nicky said with a chuckle. “Pretty good for a shitty mall ride.”

Nicky started towards the control console and Lorna jogged after her.

“Wait, you have the key to turn it on?!” Lorna asked, watching wide eyed as Nicky produced another key from her pocket. “We’re actually going to _ride_ it?”

“Well, _yeah_.” Nicky said, stabbing the key into the panel. “What’d you think we were gonna do? Stand around and scratch our asses?”

Lorna couldn’t stop smiling. It somehow didn’t even occur to her that they’d ride the carousel. She just assumed they’d hang around on the golden animals and chat. 

“If you’ve never ridden a carousel high, you’re sorely missing out on life.” A voice added. Lorna turned to see Alex approaching them. She smiled at Lorna and hopped up onto the podium with Nicky. The two laughed and chatted, reminiscing about weed induced rides in the past. 

“C’mon, let’s show Morello the frog.” Nicky suddenly announced. Alex bursted out laughing and climbed onto the carousel with ease. It took Lorna a few tries and plenty of jokes from Nicky. But soon they were standing in front of a hideous creation.

Carousels always had random seats for all the riders who, for whatever reason, didn’t want to traverse the air on the back of some zoo animal. Usually they were just benches painted to somewhat match the theme of the ride. But this was just insane. It was a huge seat in the shape of a frog. The bench itself was in the golden frog’s mouth and its eyes were atop its head, wide and unyielding.

“Jesus.” Lorna said in between laughs “Who ever thought that would be a good idea?” 

“Sit in that motherfucker, Alex. Show her how it’s done.” Nicky said, crossing her arms with a smirk.

Alex plopped into the frog’s mouth, shaking her head with a laugh. “God, I love this thing.”

Just then, Piper came up behind them. 

“Perfect timing!” Nicky announced. Lorna tried not to laugh at the matching shocked expressions on both Piper and Alex’s faces. “Join Alex in the frog, Pipes.”

Piper hesitated, but eventually did just that. With both of them settled into the looming amphibian, Nicky smiled. 

“Okay. So, Piper wanted to kiss you, Alex. Being drunk just helped her. Piper, Alex has wanted to kiss you forever now. It’s a mutual thing, alright? So you two sit in the mouth of this massive god damn frog and talk this shit out. If we come back and you aren’t finger banging each other into oblivion , I’m gonna pop a top.”

Lorna saw the hint of a smile on Alex’s lips (paired perfectly with the absolutely mortified look on Piper’s) and she somehow knew it would all be okay.

Lorna and Nicky got down and left them to it. At the control center, the blonde turned the key and the massive machine sprang to life. Cheesy carnival like music started up and the animals began their up and down motions. 

Nicky hopped onto the moving platform, extending a hand to help the shorter girl up. 

“Ya know, I’ve seen toddlers get up here with no issues.”

“Fuck you.” Lorna said with a snort of laughter as she finally managed to get up. 

The carousel had the generic animals one would expect on such a ride. Horses, tigers, giraffes, ect. Mainly horses. Oh, and the massive golden frog. 

Lorna chose a golden and white striped giraffe and somehow managed to mount the thing while Nicky snagged the horse that was beside it.

As the ride went round and round, as the music played its high pitched tune, Lorna rested her head against the giraffe’s long neck and looked up at the domed ceiling. The mall was far enough from the hustle and bustle that you could actually make out some stars if you squinted. She looked away and found Nicky watching her with an amused smile.

“What?” Lorna asked, returning the smile.

“Nothin’.” Nicky shot back, standing up on her horses’ foot holes as if she was riding a bike. “So did _Chris-tah-fah_ ever get back to ya?”

Lorna has told Nicky all about Christopher on the ride over. Nicky didn’t seem too impressed with the guy, but Lorna didn’t mind. Lorna fumbled her phone out of her pocket and checked the screen. Nope.

“Nah, not yet. Probably just busy, ya know how it is.” Lorna said, suddenly studying her screen with squinted eyes. “Oh shit, what if it’s somethin’ I said? Here, read over it.” The shorter girl said frantically, handing over her phone. “Maybe it’s the smileys!”

Nicky looked over the conversation, handing the phone back with a huff. 

“He sure isn’t a 5 star conversationalist, that’s for sure.” She said, running a hand through her curls. “Nah, you did great, kid. The smileys are a nice touch.”

Lorna sighed in relief and pocketed her phone.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it if he put a little more effort a’ all, but that’s how the cookie cracks.”

“ _Crumbles_.”

“Huh?”

“That’s how the cookie crumbles.” Nicky said with a snort. “Not _cracks_.”

“Same difference!” Lorna exclaimed, causing Nicky to dissolve into giggles.

They let the ride go around a few more cycles before they decided it was time to check in the happy couple. Lorna approached the golden amphibian with crossed fingers, hoping they hadn’t just made things worse. 

Alex and Piper were full on making out in the mouth of the frog, hot and heavy and causing Nicky to stand back, hands on her hips like a proud parent.

“Alright, alright.” Nicky called out, slapping a hand over Lorna’s eyes. “There are _children_ present, ladies.”

Lorna giggled and swatted away Nicky’s hand and the two girls intertwined on the frog shot apart like they got caught. Piper was blushing like mad and Alex wore a smirk that said it all. 

Nicky played some music out loud on her phone in a vain attempt to drown out the cheesy 80’s carousel tunes. They listened to music and goofed around and Lorna looked up to the stars, thanking each and every one of them that she finally had friends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaaay, so this chapter is where stuff starts to get dark. Don't worry, there's plenty of fluff and cuteness to come! 
> 
> Content warning for: mentioned sexual assault/rape, dark thoughts, unhealthy coping mechanisms, ect. I don't know how to word some of the warnings. Basically Mendez is Mendez and says/does some extremely disturbing things.

The next two months went by pretty much the same. Lorna spent more and more time with Nicky, Piper, and Alex, even spending Christmas and New Years at Nicky’s, drunk and giggly. They hung out at the carousel a few more times, and sometimes Nicky just invited Lorna. They‘d sit in the golden frog and talk for hours. Lorna was continually shocked at the fact that Nicky didn’t seem to be annoyed by her endless chatter. Even when it came to Christopher, which seemed to be all she talked about these days.

She’d finally met up with Christopher a few days after the New Year. It had been snowing heavily and he’d finally agreed to meet her to see a movie. She’d spent hours getting ready, buying a whole brand new outfit which she modeled for Nicky as she got ready in the apartment. Over the past months she’d spent countless nights and weekends over at Nicky’s so, as a result, a ton of her shit was there. Her lipsticks and makeup lined the bathroom sink. Random shirts and hair elastics and almost anything else under the sun ended up strewn on Nicky’s bedroom floor or on the couch.

They met at a movie theater and Christopher let Lorna pick the movie. She obviously picked a chick flick and spent the whole date trying not to stare at the boy beside her. Lorna couldn’t believe this was really happening. She was on a date with a beautiful boy, her mind already on page two of possible baby names. 

After the date, the two stood outside the theater, a gentle snow falling on them.

“I had a real good time, Christopher!” Lorna said with a bright smile. As much as she didn’t want the date to end, all she wanted to do was run straight to Nicky’s apartment and tell her all about it. 

“Yeah.” Christopher merely said, awkwardly stepping back. “I gotta get going.”

“I’ll text ya later! I hope we can go out again!” Lorna cheered, wearing a smile that could melt the snow.

Lorna was two miles away when she got the text. She fumbled with her phone, fingers numb from the cold.

  
  


[Christopher <3] Look i don’t think we should see each other. Youre a nice girl and all but i dont think itll work out. Im sorry.

Lorna froze. Snow compiled in her dark hair as she read the text over and over, her mind scrambling to make sense of it. Tears blurred her vision, but it didn’t matter. The text was seared into her brain. She tried to text him back but only received an error message.

He’d blocked her.

By the time she’d reached Nicky’s apartment, her tears had stopped. It was fine. Just fine. It was a mistake, that was all. Christopher didn’t mean it. He was obviously terribly confused. They’d had a great time! The movie was a real knee slapper and Lorna had even let Christopher hog the popcorn box. He’d smiled at her plenty of times.

Lorna crafted a story of the date in her head, a story she proceeded to tell Nicky, Piper, and Alex (and herself) over and over for the next few weeks. She went along with life, happily pretending that all her texts actually went through.

-

“Lorna?” A voice asked. Lorna looked up from her magazine to see the security guard, Mendez, standing in the storefront. She’d seen him around, obviously, but kind of forgot about him. She hadn’t seen him do anything creepy and he hadn’t walked her to her car any more. Nicky picked her up on her night shifts, hopping up on the counter and playing music while Lorna mopped.

“Yeah?” Lorna responded, flipping a page.

“I need to see you in my office.”

Lorna shot a glance at Maritza, who actually looked a bit alarmed. Her mind went into overdrive as she got up and followed the towering guard to a tiny office by the bathrooms.

Could guards fire you? Surely not, they weren’t the ones to hire you, so they had no right to fire you. But what if the boss had wanted her gone but was too busy and just sent Mendez to do the dirty work? Lorna racked her brain and over analyzed every thing she’d messed up on, fucking up on cash register and that one time she charged that old man twice. 

The office was very small and cramped and Lorna wore a scared smile as she sunk into the chair. The man opposite her looked massive in such a small space. He clicked away on the computer and the silence was just too for the smaller girl to bear. 

“Did I do somethin’? I swear I didn’t mean to charge that old guy twice! I just pressed too hard on the button and it counted it twice! Maritza fixed it and said it was okay. Was it somethin’ else? I mean, I know I fuc- uh, mess, mess up on the register a lot. But I’m gettin’ the hang of it!”

“Calm your tits, you’re not fired.” The guard said from behind the screen, eyes flicking to her in amusement.

“Oh.” Lorna said, sinking back the chair with a relieved sigh. “Um, thanks. Thank you.” 

It was quiet again for a while before Mendez turned the computer monitor to face her. Lorna’s eyes went wide as she saw video footage of the carousel. Not just the carousel. Her, Nicky, Piper, and Alex on the carousel. She hadn’t even thought about the possibility of surveillance cameras.

“Imagine my surprise when I’m going through old footage to make room and I see this.” Mendez said with a smirk. “Some illegal midnight escapades.”

“Illegal?” Lorna squeaked, mouth hanging open. But he said she wasn’t fired? Oh god, what if she wasn’t fired. What if she was _arrested_?

“Breaking and entering.” The guard said, turning the screen back to himself. “And the carousel sure looks like it’s turning, so that means someone has the key. Or a copy of the key. So, theft. Breaking and entering, and theft.”

Lorna put her head in her hands and tried to breathe. Tried to focus. He was smiling. He was acting causally about all this. Surely that meant this was just a warning, right? 

“I spy with my little eye.” Mendez said, leaning into the screen. “Nicky Nichols, Alex Vause, Piper Chapman, and our very own Lorna Morello.”

Lorna raised her head. “I’m so sorry, sir. I know it was wrong! Please, please we won’t ever do it again. I’ll talk to them right after this. I don’t remember the name of the guard Nic- uh, we got the key from. But I’ll find out! Please, we-“

Mendez held a hand up and stood up. He absolutely towered over her.

“Relax, I’m not going to turn you in.” He said, walking over to behind her chair. “Well, not unless I get something in exchange.” 

Lorna was frozen as his hands gripped either side of her chair.

“You do something for me.” He breathed, bending down so he was whispering in her ear. His breath was hot and sent goose bumps up Lorna’s arms. “Or you and your friends are getting arrested. You’d look sexy in orange.”

Lorna couldn’t think. She could barely breathe. The room was beginning to feel even smaller and he was completely blocking the exit. He suddenly grabbed her hand and forced it on the crotch of his pants.

“You feel what you do to me? What I wouldn’t give to bend you over that desk and fuck your little brains out.” He growled. Lorna tried to pull her hand away, but his grip on her wrist only tightened. “But it’s the middle of the day and I’m not stupid. I bet you’re a squealer. We need quiet.”

Lorna started to cry then. She kept trying to move her hand. She didn’t even realize she’d been whispering “please stop” under her breath until he told her to shut up.

He finally went back behind the desk, causing Lorna to collapse in on herself. She was shaking and her mind couldn’t really latch into anything that was happening.

“According to the schedule your next late shift is Wednesday.” He said, flashing her a big smile. The smile suddenly dropped. “If you’re not in this office at 11:30 _on the dot_ , I will be calling the police immediately. And quitting won’t do any good. Quit and I’ll be going to the police tonight.”

“Hey,” he said, snapping his fingers. Lorna jerked up and realized he wasn’t blocking the exit anymore. She sprang to her feet only for his hand to come shooting out and yank her arm painfully down. 

“Repeat it back to me.” He ordered, staring her down. “Time and place.” 

Lorna squeezed her eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening. This literally could not be happening. Her arm hurt and she just wanted to go home. No, not home. Nicky’s. She wanted to go to Nicky’s and lay in her king sized bed and find silly YouTube videos like they did. 

“Okay, I’ll get my phone.” Mendez said, sending Lorna jumping to her feet again.

“No! N-no! Uh, um, Wednesday at, um, 11:30.” Lorna repeated back, avoiding his eyes. 

“That’s a good girl.” He purred, coming back over to her. 

“Wipe your face, bitch. Stay in this office until you’ve calmed down. But make it fast before I change my mind and fuck you right now.”

Lorna quickly wiped at her eyes with her sleeves, covering her face with her hands and trying to breathe. Eventually her breathing evened and the crying had turned into hiccups.

“Go.” Mendez ordered, shoving her towards the door. “11:30 on the fucking dot, Lipstick. Mmmm, can’t wait to see what those lips can do.”

Lorna scrambled away like she’d been administered an electric shock. She ran into the nearby bathroom and quickly locked herself in the stall nearest from the door.

She sat on the floor and immediately started hyperventilating.

“Woah, hey, you okay in there?” A voice called out. It was Nicky of all people.

“Nicky?” Lorna asked in between sobs, trying really hard to breathe. The world seemed to be tipping over and she couldn’t catch her breath. 

“Lorna? Is that you?” She heard footsteps approach her stall. Lorna cried even harder. She’d never heard Nicky use her first name in a serious way. Somehow it didn’t sound so bad coming from her.

“Lorna, can I come in, kid? Can you unlock the door?” Nicky asked. Her voice was drowning in concern and Lorna didn’t know if she should let her in. Nicky had a weird way of seeing right through the other girl. She knew once Nicky looked at her with those big brown eyes, the world would end.

“I-I-I’m ok-okay.” Lorna choked out, hating how horrible she sounded and trying not to even think about how she must look. 

“Oh, yeah, totally. Like I’m going to buy that.” Nicky said with a huff. “Look, I can, and will, crawl under the stall down like a deranged toddler if you don’t let me in.”

Lorna said nothing, just continued her crying and lack of breathing, so Nicky did as she said she would. The curly headed girl crawled under the bottom of the stall and was sitting by Lorna’s side in seconds.

“Jesus, kid, you need to breathe, okay? Take some breaths.” Nicky said, rubbing soothing circles on Lorna’s back. “Breathe or you’re seriously going to pass out.”

Lorna melted into Nicky’s chest and tried to control her breathing. They stayed that way for at least 10 minutes. Lorna slowly calmed down as Nicky rubbed her arms and back, whispering comforting words. 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Nicky whispered. The very question made the water works threaten to start all over again. But Lorna reigned them in. 

“No.” Was all she could say. It was so quiet she wasn’t even sure Nicky heard her. She felt Nicky sigh.

“Was it a customer? Some of ‘em can be such assholes. Christopher givin’ you hell?” She guessed, only to have Lorna go shake her head.

“Well, you’re gonna have to tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me. And I wanna help you.”

“I can’t tell you.” Lorna said with a hiccup. “I really can’t. It’s so fucked up.”

Suddenly her face was in Nicky’s hands. Using her thumbs to wipe away stray tears, Nicky looked into her eyes. Lorna felt like crying all over again. 

“Nothing is too fucked up for me, alright?”

Lorna didn’t answer. She knew if she looked into Nicky’s eyes any longer, she’d do just that. She pulled away and returned her head to its place on Nicky’s chest. 

“Look, how ‘bout we call it a day, yeah?” Nicky said comfortingly, putting a strand of tear dampened hair behind Lorna’s ear. “Let’s go home, get into some pjs, crawl under the covers and say fuck it. We can even watch that dumb movie you want me to watch. Uh, that college musical?”

“High School Musical.” Lorna corrected with a ghost of a laugh. 

_Nicky had said ‘home._ ’

“Right, that’s the one. What do ya say, kid?”

Lorna nodded and Nicky helped her slowly to her feet. Lorna went to sink and scrubbed her face. She scrubbed so hard that Nicky reached out to stop her, unknowingly pulling on the same arm Mendez did.

“Ow, shit.” Lorna grimaced, holding her arm.

“Fuck, sorry. Are you okay?” Nicky asked, meeting her red eyed gaze in the mirror. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just think I pulled a muscle picking up boxes earlier.”

Lorna didn’t know how Nicky did it, but she somehow managed to convince the manager of Forever 21, Maria, to let her off early. The two headed to Nicky’s apartment (she had called it _home_ , hadn’t she?) and, the second she stepped through the door, Lorna made a beeline to the cabinet and took out a bottle of vodka. Lorna guzzled it straight from the bottle.

“Jesus, kid.” Nicky said, watching amused from the kitchen archway. “Rough day at the office?”

Lorna merely rolled her eyes and made her way to the master bedroom, bottle in hand. She shed her work uniform and collected a rag tag assortment of pjs on the floor, ending up with one of Nicky’s Oasis shirts and some shorts.

Lorna didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to feel anything. She sat on Nicky’s bed, blankets wrapped around her like an Eskimo, and chugged.

“Hey,” Nicky said, easing the huge glass bottle out of her hand. “How about we watch that movie before you blow chunks all over the bed.”

Nicky changed into pjs. They’d changed in front of each other countless times, but Lorna had never found herself staring. Nicky had on a black bra and purple panties that had polka dots. Her skin looked so smooth, so _touchable_? Lorna thought back to when Nicky had held her hand that night in the parking lot. They hadn’t done it since, but Lorna really wanted to. She thought about today in the bathroom, when Nicky had cupped her face. Lorna shook her head. She was getting drunk, fast.

Nicky settled into bed and turned on High School Musical and Lorna felt her worries melting away right along with her sobriety. She dramatically quoted the movie and broke out into song, jumping around on the bed like a 5 year old. Nicky seemed to be more amused by Lorna’s performance than the movie itself. But Lorna saw it in Nicky’s big brown eyes. She could _see_ that Lorna wasn’t okay. That she was trying too hard. Lorna hated the way Nicky could read her like a book, and it only made her fake it even more, singing _Status Quo_ at the very top of her lungs. 

They both laid with the blankets pulled over their heads. They laid facing each other, not talking much. Lorna reached out and poked Nicky’s cheek.

“Nicky, there’s no lipstick in prison.” She whispered drunkenly. “What am I gonna do?”

“Hmm, maybe stay out of prison?” Nicky suggested with a snort of laughter. “Seems like the first step, kid.”

Lorna didn’t respond. She reached out, grabbing one of Nicky’s stray curls and twisting it around her finger. Over and over. 

“Would you be okay in prison?” Lorna whispered. Nicky bursted into a big grin.

“Hell yeah.” She replied. “All the pussy I could ever want. I’d have so many prison bitches, Morello.”

Giggles spilled from Lorna’s lips. “I could see that.”

They were quiet again, Lorna just playing with Nicky’s hair and humming quietly.

“Are you gonna tell me what happened?” Nicky asked, her voice hushed.

Lorna squeezed her eyes shut and tried to rack her sloshy brain for an excuse. A lie. Anything. It’s not like telling Nicky would do any good, anyway. She’d just tell Lorna to go to the police or quit all together, both of which would end with Mendez handing over the tapes to the authorities.

“It would make you worry.” Lorna said, opening her eyes. 

“Like you haven’t been makin’ me worry already? Kid, I found you having a panic attack in the bathroom and then you tried to down half your body weight in vodka. What’s a little more worry?” Nicky said, raising an eyebrow. 

Tears glistened in Lorna’s eyes and she shook her head.

“I’m so fuckin’ scared.” She whispered, causing Nicky to immediately reach out to her. 

“ _Lorna_.” She said. She said her name again. “You have to tell me. Please.” 

The tears started to spill and Nicky pulled her in close. Her entire body was against Nicky’s. Nicky’s arms around her and her leg draped over Lorna’s. Lorna felt so safe and warm and like nothing existed in the world outside of the two of them. Not her dead mom or crappy house or Christopher or Mendez. It was all gone and this was all that was real.

“You’re okay, kid.” Nicky was whispering. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

Lorna thought of that word again. _Home_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don't actually think you'd get arrested for doing what they did. You'd probably just get fired? I have no idea, but it's just an AU, so it doesn't have to be 100% realistic! I promise there's light at the end of this tunnel. Thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically the same content warnings from before! This chapter was originally a lot longer, but I ended up cutting it in half and putting the other half in with chapter 5. Enjoy! Thank you for reading! Sorry again for any formatting or grammar/spelling mistakes.

Lorna called into work sick the next morning. She spent the morning in bed, weaning off a wicked headache. Nicky had gotten up early and headed off to work, leaving a note reminding Lorna to drink water and get something to eat, and text if she needed anything.

Lorna eventually dragged herself out of bed at around noon and took a burning hot shower. She noticed her wrist had a nasty bruise on it and decided on long sleeves. No make up. No standing in front of the mirror and carefully curling her hair. Her mind was somewhere else. 

She was trying to think of a way out of it all. Obviously quitting or telling wasn’t an option. But what if she purposely got herself fired? Would he know she did it on purpose? It would definitely be curious timing. 

Lorna took the train home. The house was loud and chaotic, full of crying and tantrums and tv. Thankfully her old bed was empty and she crawled right back in, as if she hadn’t just woken up a little over an hour ago. She tugged the covers over her head and went back to thinking.

What if she just...did it? Got it over with. Let him do what he wanted to do and be done with it all. She’d have to make sure he deleted the files. That would be her number one thing. 

She’d never had sex before. The closest she’d gotten was in Joey Giordano’s basement. They’d kissed for what seemed like hour after boring hour and then he’d stuck his hand up her shirt. Aside from the oh so eye opening experience, Lorna was in the dark about sex.

She knew your first time was supposed to be very, very important. As a connoisseur of all things romance movies, she’d seen quite a few of them play out. It was all about the warm lighting, the soft touches, rose petal hearts on the bed. 

Not a cramped office with a locked door and a man that made Lorna want to cry. 

But how hard could it be? Surely she’d be okay. All she had to do was lay there, think of something else, and let Mendez do whatever. It probably wouldn’t even take that long. Sex didn’t have to be about emotional connections. That’s what one night stands were, right? Sex was sex. It was just physical actions. She just had to space out and let it happen, then the videos would be gone. Her friends wouldn’t be thrown in jail. Their lives wouldn’t be forever ruined. Everything would go back to normal, though she’d have to try to come up with an excuse to avoid hanging out at the carousel.

Or maybe she could just tell everyone. Sit the others down and explain what happened and maybe they could put their heads together and think of a solution Lorna hadn’t thought of yet. Alex was a drug dealer, after all. Surely she’d had quite the experience with getting out of tricky and/or illegal situations. 

Her phone buzzed and roused her from her thoughts. She groaned and dragged herself out of bed and over to her disregarded pair of jeans, fishing her phone out of her pocket.

[Piper] : Hey, girl! Just wondering how you are! :D (Nicky totally didn’t track me down and make me ask.)

Lorna couldn’t help but smile. Nicky really was something else. But this could be good. Lorna had learned from Piper’s many drunk sob stories that she’d had a pretty steady boyfriend named Larry. Maybe they’d reached third base? Maybe she could give Lorna some hypothetical pointers. If that was the choice Lorna ended up settling with.

[Lorna] : I’m doing good! Tell Nicky she better bring me home a cherry cheesecake cookie! Can I maybe call you later, after work? I need to ask you something.

[Piper] : Yeah, of course! You can come over, if you want. Alex will be here and maybe we can drag Nicky upstairs. 

[Lorna] : No, that’s okay! I’ll just call you. :)

[Piper] : Okay, sounds good! I get off at 5. Talk to you then, Lorn! 

  
  


Lorna finally emerged from her old room and went downstairs to get something to eat. Her nephews were glued to the tv, even the baby. Her brother sat lazily on the couch, smoking a joint.

“Where’s Franny?” Lorna asked, making herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an absurd amount of jelly.

“Out. Dunno.” Her brother replied with a shrug.

“And you’re smoking while you watch them?” Lorna asked, wide eyed. “They’re literal babies, Mikey!” 

“I ain’t a baby!” The 4 year old, Tommy called out, eyes glued to the TV set. 

“What he said.” Mikey threw back, taking a long hit.

Lorna sighed and started making more sandwiches. She handed out the sandwiches on napkins and took her youngest nephew, Matteo, onto her lap and helped him with his. Her nephews were all pretty close in age. Tommy was 4, Enzo was 3 and the baby, Matteo, about to be two. All the boys had mops of brown hair and dark eyes, classic of the Morello clan. 

Lorna had only been 15 when Tommy had been born. She remembered getting called out of English class and ushered to the hospital by her father. He’d been enraged that Franny had wound up pregnant and still in high school. Their Catholic upbringing strictly forbade sex before marriage, and it was a rule her father had expected them to follow. He softened a little when he first held baby Tommy, but he was still a bitter man. Made even more bitter why his wife’s passing and, then, working 2 jobs. 

“Pops home?” Lorna asked. She barely saw him nowadays. 

“Yup, asleep.”

Lorna finished her sandwich and spent the rest of the afternoon with the boys, playing with blocks and coloring. Around 5 Mikey’s friends crashed their play date and Lorna ushered the kids into their room, which was her old room. Franny came back and Lorna took the opportunity to sneak out onto the stoop. She’d been texting Nicky all day, like they normally did, and Nicky hadn’t asked her again what was wrong. She hoped that’s how things stayed.

Lorna dialed Piper.

“Hey, Lorn!” Piper answered cheerfully. “How are you doing?”

“All good!” Lorna said, getting nervous all of the sudden. She’d hung out with Piper plenty of times and she considered them friends, but they weren’t exactly the closet. Piper was closer to Alex, who she was currently dating, and Lorna was usually hanging out with Nicky. She’d never hung out with _just_ Piper or _just_ Alex. Only _just_ Nicky. 

“So, uh, how long did you date Larry?” Lorna asked.

“Larry? Hmmm, let’s see. About 3 years?”

“Years?! Woah!”

“Yeah, it was throughout high school.”

“Uh, did you guys, umm, go all the way?”

“Like had sex? Yeah, we did. Why?”

“Just curious!”

“Awwww, Lorn! Is this about Christopher?”

“Y-yeah. I think he might wanna do somethin’.”

“Awww that’s so sweet! It’s not like how it is in the movies, though. So don’t get your hopes up too much.”

“Whatdaya mean?”

“Well, at least with Larry, it was kind of awkward? I mean, yeah, it was nice. I was his first, too, so we both didn’t really know what we were doing. There was a lot of laughing and cringy moments that first time.”

“It is special, though? Like they say? Ya know how everyone says you’ll remember your first time forever.”

“In my opinion? No, not really. But that was just Larry. I bet Christopher will be different! He’ll make it special, Lorn.” 

  
  


The next day was Saturday and Lorna found herself at work. 4 days. Now she only had 4 days and she tried her very best not to think about it. She still had no idea what she was going to do, but she was leaning more and more towards just doing it. She had woken up last night in the dead of sleep, crying after dreaming of Mendez holding her down, his huge, towering frame crushing her.

Nicky came over on their lunch break and sat behind the counter with her. The two shared earbuds and a sandwich as Lorna flipped through celebrity magazines and Nicky leaned in only to make fun of the dresses or comment on some woman’s ass. 

“Enjoying yourselves, ladies?”

Lorna completely froze and started a chant in her head. 

_Act normal. Act normal. Act normal. Act normal._

Lorna slowly looked up to see Mendez casually strolling towards the counter. 

“Is that part of the job duties?” He asked, nodding at the magazine.

“She’s on her lunch break.” Nicky cut in before Lorna could respond. She didn’t even realize how hard she was gripping the magazine until she set it down like it was in fire.

“Sorry! I’m sorry.” Lorna squeaked. Nicky looked over at her with a raised eyebrow and Mendez laughed.

“Calm your tits, Lipstick.” He said, leaning in closer over the counter. “I’m just bustin' your balls.”

_Lipstick._

_Can’t wait to see what those lips can do_.”

_Actnormal.Actnormal.ActnormalActnormalActnormal_

Nicky put a hand on Lona’s thigh and squeezed, obviously noticing her discomfort.

“Don’t you have a mall to be securing?” Nicky asked, not even trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. Lorna looked anywhere but at Mendez, but it was a hard thing to do when he was staring her down.

“Shut the fuck up, dyke.” Mendez shot back. 

He looked at Lorna and nodded at her, his eyes never leaving her. He looked up and down her body in a way that made her feel like she was naked. Finally, finally, he left.

“Fuckin’ pervert!” Nicky growled, crossing her arms. “He pisses me off so bad!”

“Nicky.” Lorna suddenly said, gripping the other girl’s sleeve. “I’ve been lyin’.”

Nicky turned to face her, eyebrow raised.

“About what?”

Lorna knew she couldn’t tell about Mendez. But she hated lying to Nicky. She couldn’t stand it anymore. The one thing she could do was clear at least some of the air.

“Me and Christopher ain’t together.” She said quietly. Nicky’s lips did a weird thing where it looked like she almost wanted to smile, but decided against it at the last second.

“Shit, I’m sorry, kid. When did that happen?”

Lorna looked down at the magazine, taking one of the page’s corners in her fingers and rolling and unrolling it.

“Well, ya see, it never really started? We went on one date, if ya could call it that, and we haven’t talked since. But I was just so embarrassed and upset that it happened that I, I kinda lied.” 

Lorna’s voice was small and too high pitched, like the dam was about to burst. But she reeled it in. She understood it was a pretty decent sized lie to be keeping all of this time. A few weeks, at least.

To her surprise, Nicky was laughing.

“That’s it? That’s your big lie?” Nicky asked, shaking her head. “Fuck that guy, yeah? He probably sucks dicks.”

A smile played on Lorna’s lips and she looked up and met those warm brown eyes. 

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Probably does.”

  
  


Sunday night Lorna found herself in the kitchen, getting a drink while her brother and his friends yelled at the tv in the living room. One of the guys, Lorna had no idea who, suddenly stumbled into the kitchen. It was obvious he was high. 

“Hey.” He said, his voice slow. Lorna muttered a small “hi” and turned to leave, but stopped. 

She studied the guy. He was swaying on his feet and looked real fuckin’ happy for a guy that was staring off into space. Lorna could put money on the fact that he wasn’t thinking about a thing. That his mind was as empty as can be, while Lorna's was going into overdrive as 4 days was now 3. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She was tried of crying and tired of imagining and pondering and deciding and fucking _thinking_.

“What’d you take?” Lorna asked the guy. He grinned and nodded to the kitchen counter where there sat a platter of brownies. Lorna made a mental note to give Mikey shit for leaving pot brownies out in a house with 3 chocolate loving toddlers. 

Without a second though, she moved the plate to a higher surface and took one, cramming the whole brownie in her mouth.

“Holy shit!” The guy said, bursting into a loud laughter. “Fuckin’ A!” 

Lorna had never been high. She’d been around high people plenty, yeah, duh. Smoking made Mikey go through bags of potato chips and stare at the ceiling. It made her sister laugh like a donkey and say “oh God” a lot. For Lorna Morello, all it seemed to do was make her think about Nicky. 

And, yeah, laugh a lot. 

So that’s how she ended up begging her sister to drive her to Nicky’s. Her phone was dead in her room somewhere and she was high as fuck and she just wanted to see that lopsided grin and smell smoke and cookies.

Franny finally relented, but only because she had to go to the store anyway. She made sure Lorna knew she was on her own when it came to a ride home, and dropped the girl off outside of Nicky’s complex.

Lorna knew how to get to Nicky’s door in her sleep. But she seemed to have a better sense of direction in her sleep than she currently did, because, after walking up a ton of stairs (crawling, too, which made Lorna laugh so hard she almost tumbled down 5 flights) she ended up at some old black lady’s door.

“Hey, hey, did you know that you’re _not_ Nicky?” Lorna asked, the woman looking at her like she was speaking Hungarian. 

“Morello?” A voice called out. Lorna turned to see Alex in the hallway, holding a trash bag on her way to the chute.

“Holy shit!” Lorna squealed, turning to the lady. “Look! D’ya see?! That’s ALEX!” 

Alex sped walked over to Lorna and apologized to the lady. She took Lorna’s arm, trying so hard not to laugh.

“Lorna, are you high?”

Lorna couldn’t stop staring at her hand. 

“Fuck, fuck, I’m melting. Oh shit.” Lorna said, for absolutely no reason, causing Alex to laugh so hard that Piper stuck her head out of the door.

“Alex? Lorna?” She asked. 

“Pipes, she’s high as fuck.” Alex said, doubling over in laughter. 

“ _High?_ ” Piper asked, running over.

Lorna reached out and pinched Piper’s nose shut.

“We’re goin’ under now, ‘kay?” She said, giggled flowing out of her like bubbles.

“C’mon.” Alex told her, taking her arm again. “Off to Nicky we go.”

Alex didn’t even knock. She bursted through the door, calling out “Delivery! One high a fuck small Italian!” 

Nicky was sitting on the couch, spoon of cereal hanging out of her mouth and some game show blaring.

Lorna bursted into laughter. “Look! Look! _Jesus_ , it’s Nicky!” 

“Did you sell her something?” Nicky asked immediately, glancing at Alex.

“Hell no! I found her in the hallway harassing Ms. Claudette.”

“Oh shit,” Piper whined, head in her hands. “Miss Claudette’s so going to curse us.”

Nicky bursted out laughing and threw her hands in the air.

“God damn it, Morello! You went and got high off your fuckin’ rocker and didn’t even let me watch!”

Lorna suddenly struck a very odd pose and said, “Ta da! I’m here noooow!”

The group led Lorna to the couch where they all sat with a sigh.

They lounged around for a few hours, Lorna talking loudly and laughing at the game show that was on the tv. She ate the rest of Nicky’s cereal and then an entire bag of popcorn. Amused grins sat on all of her friend’s faces, but Lorna couldn’t focus on them. She kinda had to sing.

The small girl burst into song, causing Piper to jump. It was a beautiful rendition of _Gotta Go My Own Way_ , and Lorna was on her feet, spinning and dancing and causing Nicky to choke on her spit from laughing so hard. The weed was definitely beginning to wear off.

“Hey, that’s from High School Musical!” Piper called out. Nicky raised an eyebrow.

“No it’s not, we just watched it the other day.”

Lorna suddenly had her sights set on Nicky. She approached the girl on the couch and straddled her.

“It’s from the second movie, _Nichols_ . You. Are. Not. _There_ . _Yet_ .” Her voice was dead serious and she didn’t even notice Alex dying laughing or Nicky gulping. “ _No spoilers_.” 

She flopped off of Nicky and onto the couch beside her, dissolving into giggles.

“Holy shit. I should be high Wednesday!”

“Wednesday?” Nicky asked, clearing her throat. Alex said something Lorna didn’t catch and Nicky flipped her off. 

“Yeah!” Lorna said with a goofy smile. “With Mendez! See, I climbed all on you easy. Maybe it’ll make it easier with him! I probably won’t even cry.”

Dead

Silence 

“Lorna, what the fuck.” Nicky choked out, eyes boring into Lorna’s. 

Piper leaned in close. “Lorna, you’re pretty high right now. Do you know what you just said?”

Lorna jumped up.

“‘Course I know what I said! I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout it so much, I have it pretty down pat.” 

More silence. Lorna rubbed her eyes until she saw stars.

“The carousel.” She said. Her words kept coming. Slow and fast and she didn’t even stop to think that she was fucking it all up.

“He saw us on the carousel. The security cameras.”

“Shit!” Piper groaned. “We’re so getting fired!” 

Nicky shot the blonde a deadly look.

“Kid,” Nicky said, reaching out and slowly lowering Lorna to the couch. “How do you know he saw us?”

Lorna laughed like that was the biggest joke of them all.

“He _showed me_ , duh! But it’s okay. He said we won’t go to prison if I go to his office Wednesday after work.” 

“Prison? The fuck?” Alex said, pushing her glasses up on her head.

“Uhhhhhhh. Yeah. Prison. For, uh, breaking and entering and stealing the keys.” Lorna explained. The brownie was starting to wear off. Things were still fuzzy and far apart, but she was about to think and talk more clearly.

“What do you have to do Wednesday?” Nicky asked very slowly. Lorna couldn’t look at her. She picked at the couch and felt everyone’s eyes on her.

“Dunno. Let him do whatever.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Piper asked.

“Jesus, Piper, it’s _Pornstache_ ! What do you think she means?” Nicky snapped. Piper looked slightly hurt by the outburst and Alex wrapped an arm around her and kissed the side of her head. Nicky got to her feet and started pacing. This wasn’t good. No one was laughing anymore. This wasn’t fun. This wasn’t good. She’d _told_.

Lorna stood, too. Head in her hands.

“I shouldn’t have told. I’m so fucking stupid!” She yelled, shaking her head.

“No, no, kid, you did good.” Nicky said, immediately standing in front of her. “We’ll think of something, okay?”

Lorna nodded. She just wanted to get out of this room. Everyone was staring and there were only 3 days left.

“Can I go lay down?” Lorna asked in a whisper. Nicky softened at that. The curly headed girl leaned in and planted a warm kiss on Lorna’s forehead. 

“Of course, kid. You fuckin’ pothead.” Nicky said, finally getting a laugh out of Lorna.

Snuggled in Nicky’s bed, Lorna could still hear her friends talking.

Nicky: “Damn it, no wonder she was acting so spazzy when we saw that douche yesterday at work!”

Alex: “What is it, Pipes?”

Piper: “Shit, she called me the other day out of the blue. Asking about sex and first times and all that. I thought she was just talking about Christopher! She _said_ she was just talking about Christopher!”

Nicky: " _Jesus Christ_."

Alex: "We wouldn’t go to jail over that shit. He probably just said that to scare her."

Lorna squeezed her eyes shut and buried her head in the covers. She didn’t want to hear her friends talking about it. It was bad enough that she let it slip. She focused intently on the darkness, counting her breaths.

She jumped a while later to the sound of the door opening. It was Nicky.

“Nicky?”

Nicky climbed into bed, facing the younger girl.

“What are you doin’ awake?” Nicky asked, eyes studying Lorna’s face. Nicky could always read her like a book. It made Lorna want to hide. To look away or try to build up a façade. But she never did. It would never work.

“Thinkin’.” Lorna whispered. “You know, I got high so that I didn’t have to think.” She reached out and captured a curl, twisting it between her fingers. “But I just kept thinkin’ about you, instead.”

Nicky looked like she didn’t know what to say, and Lorna instantly regretted saying it. But then Nicky’s face broke out into a grin. A grin hid from the rest of the word. A grin that made you feel lucky just catching a tiny, tiny glimpse. Lorna loved the rare chances she got to see that big, full faced smile. 

“Jesus, kid,” Nicky said, the smile still there. “You’re something else, you know that?”

Lorna didn’t answer. Instead, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Nicky’s. It was completely unexpected and Lorna had no idea why she did it, but she’d wanted to. In that moment she felt so cared for, so important and warm and _loved_.

It was a short kiss. Nicky’s lips were warm and Lorna pulled away, preparing herself for the aftermath. She watched as Nicky’s eyes fluttered open, watched as her lips twitched into a smirk.

“Ya know, I had a feeling that would happen at some point.” She said, Lorna hearing her grin even in the dark. Not wanting to make a mess of things, Lorna went into overdrive trying to explain.

“I-I, uh, let’s not have the whole Piper thing. Um, I _wanted_ to do that and I’m not even high anymore so I couldn’t use that as an excuse even if I wanted t-“

Nicky leaned forward and connected their lips again. Soft and sweet.

“Good to know, kid.” She said with that earth shattering grin. “Good to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been high, so my only references are from tv and movies, so I'm sorry if it was over the top or unrealistic, lol. Thanks for reading! :)


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